Oklahoma judge in Kansas murder case rules on evidence use in discovery hearing, allows defendants in court together

TEXAS COUNTY, Okla. (KAMR/KCIT) – Texas County Associate District Judge, A. Clark Jett, set a new precedent for the county courtroom by allowing all five defendants to be together during the first discovery status hearing in the case of the deaths of two Kansas women.

As was previously reported on MyHighPlains.com, 27-year-old Veronica Butler and 39-year-old Jilian Kelley of Hugoton, Kan., were reported missing in March. The Texas County Sheriff’s Department said the women were traveling to pick up children for a visit but never arrived at their destination. Their bodies were reported to be found in rural Texas County.

Five people were previously arrested in connection with the case: 54-year-old Tifany Adams; 43-year-old Tad Cullum; 50-year-old Cole Twombly; 44-year-old Cora Twombly; and 31-year-old Paul Grice. They each faced multiple charges, including suspicion of murder and kidnapping.

Originally, each case for each defendant was held separately however, at the beginning of the discovery status hearing Judge Jett ruled for all defendants to be in the courtroom for any procedures moving forward.

Judge Jett also focused on other motions filed by the defense including one filed by Joi E Miskel, the attorney representing Cullum, requesting Cullum have access to law materials due to lack of familiarity with court language and law in which Jett granted this motion. During their argument, the state also requested that there be a process moving forward regarding motions and how much time to respond to the motions filed from either side due to the severity and size of the case.

Judge Jett also ruled on one objection filed by the state regarding the language of the motion to discovery filed by the defense. The state objected to the filed motion due to the broad language in the document regarding physical and DNA evidence and the state noted that there will be time for discovery for the defense counsel despite concerns from the counsel over what the language change request meant.

The state also noted to the court that they have asked the Oklahoma State Bureau of Investigation to not give up or destroy any test or sample that has “extra” DNA for defense and has no objection to keeping evidence for the defense's discovery period. The state also confirmed with the court and the counsel that the state and OSBI have not received the medical examiner's report and all together the expected evidence for discovery to be the size of four terabytes and two terabytes should be available to the defense before preliminary hearings.

In his final summary of the day, Judge Jett noted that the court does not conduct preliminary hearings before the time of discovery and has no intent on doing so. Judge Jett then granted the state's motion to change the paragraph regarding evidence to be less broad and specifically changed it so the state of Oklahoma shall use its best efforts to not consume all physical or DNA evidence during testing before notifying the defense counsel.

Judge Jett also ordered that until the time of discovery is finished a status hearing regarding discovery shall be conducted every third Wednesday, with the next hearing being scheduled on July 17 at 9 a.m., along with ordering the state and the defense counsel to discuss whether preliminary hearings will be held jointly with all five defendants or separately.